"Why is Caster Han Li important?" Seishan asked.
Her voice was steady, clipped, already discarding the spectacle and drilling straight into the structural fault line of my claims. That, more than anything else, told me she was taking this seriously—whether she believed me or not.
"Because he was sent to kill Nephis," I replied without hesitation, "and he will attempt to do so quite faithfully."
For a fraction of a second, nothing happened.
Then the room detonated.
"That's bullshit."
Gemma was the first to move. He took a sharp step forward, the scrape of his boot against stone loud in the sudden chaos. His jaw was clenched, eyes blazing with open hostility.
"No," he said flatly. "That crosses the line. I was willing to entertain the rest as you being unhinged but sincere, but this?" He jabbed a finger at me. "You're telling us you know the identities, Aspects, Flaws, arrival times, and motivations of people who don't even exist yet—and now you're claiming a Legacy assassin is being sent to murder a Saint-in-the-making?"
He shook his head, incredulous. "Give me a better explanation. Right now. Because unless you can tell me exactly how you know all of this, I'm calling it what it is: fantasy."
Effie stepped in before I could respond.
She didn't raise her voice. That made it worse.
"Gemma's right," she said reluctantly. "Adam, I trust you. I really do." She glanced at me, then away, rubbing the back of her neck. "And I like you. As a friend. But this is too much."
She exhaled sharply.
"I can accept that you've got secrets. I can accept weird Memories, insane plans, and you throwing yourself into danger like a lunatic." A faint, strained smile crossed her face. "That's kind of on brand."
Then her expression hardened.
"But Caster trying to kill Nephis? That doesn't make sense."
She turned slightly, addressing the group as much as me.
"The Immortal Flame Clan are heroes. Old Guard. The ones who fought the Spell when everyone else was still figuring out what nightmares were." Her brows drew together. "I've been stuck in the Dream Realm for years, but even a child knows that."
She looked back at me, eyes sharp and searching.
"If Nephis showed up here, people wouldn't fear her. They'd worship her. She'd be treated like a saint. Hell, Gunlaug might try to control her, sure—but assassinate her?" Effie shook her head. "Why would Caster want her dead? What does he gain?"
Gemma seized on that immediately.
"Exactly," he snapped. "Legacies don't waste assets on pointless murder. Han Li isn't some mad dog. If he's sent, it's because someone powerful wants her gone—and that someone would have to be out of their damn mind."
The tension in the room had shifted.
Before, it had been shock and disbelief. Now it was confrontation—sharp, aggressive, demanding answers. Even Sasrir's shadow seemed restless at my feet, curling and uncurling like a living thing.
Kai said nothing.
He didn't need to.
His face had gone pale, his gaze fixed on the ground as if he were trying to steady himself against an invisible current. His Flaw gave him no refuge, no comforting doubt to hide behind. Every word I had spoken still rang true to him, inescapably so.
Seishan, meanwhile, had gone very still.
She did not interrupt Gemma or Effie. She did not react outwardly at all. But her eyes never left me, and the air around her seemed to tighten, as though she were quietly recalibrating her entire understanding of reality.
For her, the question was no longer whether I was lying.
The question was how much I knew, where I had learned it, and how far I intended to go.
I met Seishan's gaze without flinching, blue eyes locked into her blood-scarlet ones. There was no posturing in my expression now, no attempt at persuasion—only certainty.
"You're right, Gemma," I said evenly. "Sending an assassin after someone as beloved by humanity as a member of the Immortal Flame Clan is stupid. Publicly. Politically. Symbolically." I paused. "But when the ones responsible are the strongest collective force in the world, you'll find public opinion doesn't matter very much."
"What?" Gemma said sharply.
"I'm saying the Great Clans want her fucking dead," I continued, my voice hardening. "And so they are trying to kill her."
The words hit like a physical blow.
"That's impossible," Gemma snapped immediately. "The Great Clans are the pillars holding humanity together. They fund expeditions. They secure Dream Gates. They—"
"They control the narrative," I cut in. "They decide which heroes are celebrated and which ones quietly disappear."
Effie stared at me, disbelief slowly giving way to something colder. "Why?" she asked. "Why would they kill her? She's one of theirs."
"No," I replied. "She's a problem."
Silence fell again, heavier than before.
Seishan's eyes narrowed by a fraction. I was impressed by control-I had revealed one of the biggest secrets in the entire world, and while everyone else was breaking down, Seishan had barely flinched. But by now, I was sure I was on her shitlist, and we would have to have a nice, long talk. That would come later though, when we were alone.
"Nephis is a threat," I said. "The bloodline of the Immortal Flame is too powerful, too independent, and too ideologically incompatible with how the Great Clans operate." I gestured faintly with one hand. "They don't want symbols they can't control. They don't want heroes who overshadow their own efforts."
Gemma scoffed. "That's still not enough to justify assassination."
"It is when her existence threatens the balance they've spent decades constructing," I replied. "Nephis isn't content with surviving the Spell. She wants to end it. Or burn it down trying. And then there's the fact they destroyed her family."
That finally gave them pause.
Effie's jaw tightened. "You're saying… Song, Night and Valor destroyed the Immortal Flame?"
She looked over at Seishan, who said nothing to deny it and merely continued to look at me, her face as smooth as a lake.
"Not Night," I corrected. "Just the other two."
Kai finally lifted his head. His voice was quiet, but it carried. "He's not exaggerating."
Everyone turned to him.
Kai swallowed. "I can't tell you how he knows. But I can tell you he's telling the truth. All of it."
The room shifted again.
Gemma stared at Kai, then back at me, uncertainty creeping into his expression despite himself. "Even if I accept that," he said slowly, "how can you know all of this is happening? And why would they send this Caster guy into the Dream Realm instead of just killing her in reality?"
"Because it's a harmless gamble," I revealed "Because if they fail here, they can still try again in the rest of the Dream Realm. But if there's a chance they succeed, then it saves them the effort. And because his Flaw makes him expendable."
That earned a sharp intake of breath from Effie.
"The Great Clans don't see people," I continued. "They see assets. Caster Han Li is a rapidly aging blade with a limited number of swings left. Sending him to kill Nephis accomplishes three things." I raised a finger. "If he succeeds, the problem disappears. If he fails, at least they will have infomation on her capabilities. And if he dies…" I shrugged. "They lose nothing they weren't already prepared to discard."
Seishan was silent for a long time.
When she finally spoke, her voice was low, measured, stripped of all ornament. "Who told you these things?"
The question was not accusatory. It was surgical.
Gemma reacted instantly, snapping his head toward her. "Wait—Seishan, you're not actually entertaining this, are you?" His voice rose despite himself. "He's talking about your Clan. About your mother." He gestured sharply at me. "Don't tell me you honestly believe she dismantled the Immortal Flame. What, next you'll tell me she killed Saint Broken Sword too?"
That earned a thin, bloodless smile from me.
It was small. Fleeting.
But everyone saw it.
Gemma's face drained of color. His breath hitched, just once, like someone who had stepped off solid ground without realizing it. His knees did not buckle, but they might as well have—something fundamental had given way.
Seishan did not look at him.
"Kai was right about Adam," she said calmly. "He is telling the truth." Her crimson eyes remained fixed on me. "My mother did play a role in dismantling the Immortal Flame Clan."
The words landed with terrifying finality.
Effie swore under her breath. Kai went rigid.
Seishan continued, unperturbed. "That much, I already knew. What I did not know was that she intended to kill Nephis. Nor that Nephis would appear here, of all places."
Her gaze sharpened. "That is new information."
No one spoke for several seconds.
"So let me get this straight," Effie said finally. She had composed herself, but her expression was hard now, focused. "Within the next year, this Changing Star arrives and turns the Forgotten Shore upside down. She assaults the Crimson Spire—or dies trying—while an assassin sent by the Great Clans is hunting her."
She looked directly at me. "And you want to acquire the Dawn Shard before she does. Correct?"
"Exactly," I confirmed without hesitation.
I took a step forward, placing both hands on the table where the map still lay folded.
"If we don't act soon, we lose our chance. Completely." I looked at each of them in turn. "The seer traveling with her will be able to pinpoint the location of every Lord Shard. Not guesses. Not months of scouting. Precision. She'll know where they are and how to reach them."
Gemma swallowed hard. "Meaning once she arrives…"
"The board resets," I said. "Every advantage we've bled for vanishes overnight."
Seishan exhaled slowly. "And Gunlaug?"
"Will become irrelevant," I replied. "Either because Nephis breaks him, or because the chaos she brings makes his rule unsustainable."
Effie frowned. "So this isn't just about getting home."
"No," I said. "This is about timing. Leverage. Survival."
Kai finally spoke again, quietly. "If what Adam says is true—and it is—then once the seer arrives, secrecy dies. Power concentrates. Anyone without a Shard becomes a bystander."
Sasrir's shadow shifted, his voice emerging from it, calm and detached. "Which means this is our last window to act freely."
"Yes," I said. "Now or never."
Seishan closed her eyes for a brief moment, then opened them again. When she did, the uncertainty was gone, replaced by something colder and far more dangerous.
"You are asking us," she said slowly, "to move against Gunlaug, escape the sight of a seer, outwit the last inheritor of the Sun God and possibly interfere with the matters of the Great Clans, including my own Mother."
"I am," I replied.
"And if you're wrong?"
I met her gaze without blinking.
"Then we die slightly earlier than we would have anyway."
A long silence followed.
Then Seishan straightened.
"…Very well," she said. "Continue."